Chapter 4

When I woke up, Rosalie was sitting by my bed with a flicker of guilt in her eyes. She held my hand, her voice hoarse. "Gideon, your left kidney was too badly damaged, and the doctor said it had to be removed. Dorian didn't mean to. Please don't blame him."

I yanked my hand away and stared at her in disbelief. "What are you talking about?"

Rosalie lowered her head and couldn't meet my eyes.

For a moment, my mind went blank, and my whole body started shaking. She knew Dorian was the one who hurt me, and she was still covering for him.

Rosalie stood off to the side, watching me without knowing what to do, until the shrill ring of her phone broke the silence.

She started explaining on instinct. "Gideon, the company—"

I cut her off before she could finish. "Just go. I want to be alone."

She set a bowl of soup on the bedside table. "Gideon, I'll come keep you company as soon as I'm done."

Then she hurried out.

Less than a minute later, Dorian strolled in as if nothing had happened and smugly waved his phone. "I just casually mentioned I was craving the croissants from that bakery on the west side of town, and Rosalie went to get them for me herself."

Then his eyes landed on the chicken soup by the bed, and he covered his mouth to hide a laugh. "Oh, isn't that the chicken soup I didn't want? I said it tasted awful, and Rosalie offered to throw it out for me without a second thought. Guess she dumped the trash on you, huh?"

When I didn't react, Dorian approached me with a malicious grin. "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to ruin your kidney."

I glared at him with everything I had.

His grin only grew bolder. "Actually, Gideon, your kidney wasn't damaged at all. Rosalie heard I've been having kidney trouble, so she had your left one cut out and given to me!"

I swung and punched him hard in the face. "You two have gone way too far."

Instead of getting angry, Dorian laughed and picked up an urn from behind the door.

My heart leaped into my throat, and my voice shook. "Give that back!"

I lunged at him, but he tripped me and tossed the urn into the air.

"No!"

The urn hit the floor with a crash, and Dad's ashes scattered everywhere.

"Dad!"

I scrambled like a madman to scoop them up, but no matter how hard I tried, they kept slipping through my fingers.

Dorian giggled off to the side. "So this is what it looks like when someone's ashes get scattered? That's it? How boring."

Rage took over as I threw myself at him and locked my hands around his throat. "You won't even let my dad rest in peace! I'm going to murder you!"

Dorian started to fight back, then suddenly dropped his hands. The next moment, I was thrown to the floor.

The tears came on cue as Dorian turned to Rosalie. "Rosalie, I only came to apologize to Gideon. I never thought he'd try to kill me!"

Rosalie held him tight and shot me an icy glare.

Dorian pointed at the ashes on the floor and sniffled. "Gideon even tried to make me eat this weird powder. Who knows if it's poisonous? I heard there's a dog training facility near the hospital. Why don't we have a dog test it?"

When Rosalie saw me frantically scooping the ashes off the floor, hesitation flickered in her eyes. Dorian immediately let out a groan. "Rosalie, my stomach hurts."

She gave the order at once. "Bring a dog in here."

Before long, a bodyguard rushed in with a black dog on a leash. I was pinned down and forced to watch as the dog licked up Dad's ashes bit by bit.

"No! Rosalie, that's my dad!"

Suddenly, Dorian shrieked and ran to the window. His eyes welled up as he held his phone up to Rosalie. "Why are there even more videos of me all over the internet? You lied to me!"

Rosalie frowned deeply. "Dorian, don't do anything stupid."

Then she had her secretary, Casey Lund, look into it.

A moment later, Casey turned to me, his expression grim. "M-Ms. Kerr, we traced the IP address the videos were leaked from. They were uploaded from Mr. Strand's phone."

Rosalie grabbed me by the hair. "Gideon! You again!"

As I watched the dog lick up every last bit of Dad's ashes, I suddenly burst out laughing and glared at the two of them. "If you say it was me, then fine, it was me! Rosalie, Dorian, I hope you both die miserable deaths!"

Rosalie gritted her teeth. "Gideon, you never know when to quit. You made me do this!"

She shoved me toward the bodyguards behind her, her voice as cold as ice. "Put him on a dark web livestream. Within an hour, I want his video all over the internet!"

I was thrown into an iron cage with cameras on every side. One masked woman after another stepped into the cage and handled me however they pleased, as if they were putting the finishing touches on a piece of work.

When they'd tormented me until I was barely breathing, a loud bang echoed through the dark room, and thin slivers of light seeped in. A tall figure helped me up, and then everything went black.

Meanwhile, Rosalie checked her phone absentmindedly for the tenth time. Finally, she snapped at the bodyguard behind her. "If he still won't admit he was wrong, keep him locked up. But don't let those women anywhere near him."

The bodyguard stammered, "M-Ms. Kerr, it's too late—"

Just then, the hospital called. "Ms. Kerr, we're very sorry for your loss. The remaining balance for your father-in-law's medical bills has been refunded to the original account."

As Rosalie froze, Casey burst in. "Ms. Kerr, we have a problem! The Halloran family from Port Ardent suddenly pulled their investment, and the company's stock is crashing!"